Hey all. I'd like to start of by mentioning that that currently I am 15 years old, 5"5 tall and around 121 pounds or 54 kilos. I realise that perhaps I am rather young to care a great deal about my self-image, however, sadly for me I have also realised that in the real world, people DO care about what you look like.

Around 5 months ago I had my first 'guys in gym class' experience (hahaha) and it was blatantly obvious that a great many guys around my age worked out and it showed in their figure. In all honesty, I've always been a tad on the overweight side and I've always been slightly aware that I probably should do something about my weight, but this experience in gym really purveyed the point that I wasn't in great shape. So I researched weight loss methods and such vigorously for about 2 months and then, using the knowledge I acquired, set myself a diet and on the whole it has been rather successful as i have gone from 136 pounds to 121. Although I'm really pleased with how far I've come along, I still feel as if I can improve myself; I've lost the weight that i wanted to lose and now I want to get my abs toned and in general, I want to bulk up.

I know that in order to get a really good definition on my abs, I need to drop my body fat % as well as working them out. So, right now I'm doing 50-100 sit-ups a day (I'm capable of doing up to 300 surely, however, I'm told they strain the lower back, particularly at a young age), lifting 5kg weights 50 times on each arm (Again, I'm capable of doing more, but I'm informed that they're particularly bad for younger users, which is why i mix it up and do 30 press ups instead on occasion) and walking a mile and a half everyday. I know I'm not doing a great deal of cardio but I think that the weights and similar exercises I'm doing will increase my muscle mass and therefore increase the amount of calories my body consumes. A rough estimate of what I eat per day is around 1500 calories, mostly carbs.

So...yeah, if anyone could give me any advice regarding workout routines or diet that is considered credible on these forums I'd really appreciate it. Don't tell me that I'm thin or lean already, your cries will fall on deaf ears. Oh and I can't stress enough that will-power is not a problem.

Thanks in advance!

*Pictures will be posted when I find my camera*

First, are you an American? You do not sound 15 at all. You write well, and your style is mature and sober. I'm really happy to see that not all teenagers are like my sister!

As for your workout routine, you seem to be on the right track. You will most likely grow a little taller, and your body-dimensions will certainly change. I personally do not think that strength training is bad for you, as long as you do it correctly. To the contrary, I think it will benefit you greatly.

As I'm no expert, I'll just let the more experienced users weigh in. I just wanted to welcome and encourage you.

Good luck.

I just wanted to add that no age is too young to worry about your weight. It seems in most cases that people who are obese when they are young, like I was, turn out to be obese when their older.

I really need to have some sort of copy and paste fodder for these sorts of situations.

I'll come back later with more detail, but here's the short of it:

A) You need to eat a calorie surplus to gain mass
B) You need to train your body evenly with a good full body or U/L split weight training routine
C) While appearance is certainly important, you should also be worried about your health. Translation: You should eat clean, if you aren't already.

If you click on my name and find some of my previous posts, you might be able to track down a 3x/week full body routine I suggested for another guy. If not, I'll come back and paste it for you.

True.

See, the thing most newbs figure is that more is better. They end up over training.

There's nothing special about the abs. They don't need more reps to develop than any other muscle group.

You wouldn't do 100 barbell curls every day to "see your biceps" or 100 bench presses every day to "see your pecs," so why do the same for your abs?

The reason you can do 50-100 sit-ups is because there are other larger muscles such as the trunk flexor (iliopsoas), doing the majority of the work load instead of the abs.

Because the iliopsoas muscle originates on the lower back, the sit-up literally pulls on the lower back with every repetition, especially if your feet are held down or anchored, or the repetitions are performed quickly in a jerky fashion. That's why too many sit-ups can lead to a strength imbalance between the iliopsoas and abdominals, as well as poor posture and lower back pain.

I guarantee if your gym has a piece of equipment like say an Atlantis ab machine that isolates the abs so you're just working that muscle group, you'd be puking at 20 reps.

Another thing newbs overlook is the fact that you don't build muscle up in the gym - you tear muscle down in the gym.

You build muscle at home when you rest and eat properly. Another reason why lifting weights for the same muscle group more than twice a week is not too good if it's size you want.

Diet is about 80% of the game if you're trying to cut and exercise the other 20%.

Not an entire fan of that eating clean link. Seems a little weak to me with some facts that aren't exactly "proven". Eating 5-8 meals a day... measuring caloric intake is glossed over... while he does have points, some are just weak. Don't eat carbs from anything but fruits and veggies? Eh, I guess, but that seems extreme. For instance, if I want perogies, the only thing bad in them is probably the sodium (and my 1.5 gallons of water a day pretty much knocks that out of the equation anyways). I won't dismiss it all, but it isn't what eating "clean" is ideally.

Still, it does make excellent points and I am not dismissing it, just think the meals per day and caloric mention is what left me sour. Everything else is actually pretty decent.

I'm actually with you DP, I've never been a huge fan of that article although it's references quite often. If people take something from it, that's great..... I'm just not a fan.

Hooray for sweeping generalisations! Oh and just to clarify, I live in England.

Here are links to 4 pictures of me; the last one is a side on view.

Picture One.

Picture Two.

Picture Three.

Picture Four.

I think i may just have to lose 5 pounds or so before i really start my conditioning work, although really it would make more sense to do both as soon as possible.

Right, that's sit-ups out of the agenda then.

I phoned my local gym this morning as a result of your advice and they have similar machines, they also said that a 12 month membership (the smallest package they offer) is £275, I'm unsure what that is in dollars but lets say it comes to $350 or so, I have a part time job but the earnings from that are going straight into my university fund and I can't afford to tamper with that. Could you recommend exercises I could carry out at home with similar effects?

Thanks very much for the information, I'll take this into consideration.

I'm aware I need a surplus of calories to gain mass, but I'm unsure whether I should begin to gain mass in my current condition as I'm of the opinion that losing 5 pounds or so of weight would benefit the overall look of my abs. I'll look into the full body or U/L split weight routine. Your third point is definately something worth thinking about; I don't consider my diet unhealthy but at the same time, it's not all that healthy.

I checked out your body routine and I think it could benefit me, however I need to read up on some of this stuff more before I commit to a routine. Thanks very much for your time.

Any other opinions or advice?